Introducing Greek Philosophy In Verse. Poem by RAJ NANDY

Friends, I present to you the very edifice of Western Philosophy
in Verse, dating back over two thousand five hundred years of History! Based on my painstaking research work because of my love for Philosophy! And while doing so, I tried to make the complex areas simple, as I tried to put it in rhyme, without sacrificing authenticity; and also keeping in mind brevity!
The first part deals with Pre-Socrates Period commencing with
Thales, the Father of Philosophy, and ending with the age of The Sophists – which precedes the age of Socrates.


HISTORY OF ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
COMPOSED IN VERSE
BY
RAJ NANDY
(**ALL COPY RIGHTS ARE RESERVED BY THE AUTHOR**)

PART ONE: PRE – SOCRATIC PERIOD

INTRODUCTION

Man is born as a thinking being,
With an inborn quest for knowledge
and its endless thirst;
Which gave rise to his intuitive and
speculative thoughts,
In an effort to quench his intellectual
lust!
Thus ‘philosophia’, – Greek for ‘love of
wisdom’, -
In ancient Greece took its birth!
To seek the real behind the apparent,
The substance behind the shadow;
For all things on this planet earth,
Became the endeavor behind all his
thoughts and speculations;
And those ancient Greeks led the way -
towards this noble deliberation!

THE IONIANS OR MILESIAN
PHILOSOPHERS

In the sixth century before Christ was born,
Came the Ionian or Milesian philosophers, -
as they were called.
To delve at truth both simple and pure,
And to find answers to questions that should
endure!
They were no longer satisfied with mythical
and superstitious explanations;
And tried to delve into things using reasonable
speculations!
They all pondered on a single substance called
the ‘arche’,
From which all things derived, and was perhaps
the original reality!
They also deliberated on the problems of identity
and change,
And how all things in nature rearranged!

THALES OF MILETUS

During sixth century BC, on the western coast
of present day Turkey,
In the thriving Greek colony of Miletus,
Was born the Father of Greek Philosophy!
He was Thales, regarded as one of the Seven
Wise Men of Greek History!
He broke the shackles of all mythical and
superstitious speculations,
And liberated Greek minds for proper philosophic
deliberations!
He declared ‘water’ to be the ‘arche’ of all
creation!
Water was that single substance from which all
things derived;
And with time, into which all things would
finally subside!

Thales: The First Philosopher Scientist:
Thales visited Egypt to study geometry,
And also developed his unusual mathematical
ability!
Back in 585 BC he became very famous, -
By accurately predicting an eclipse of the sun!
Those early days of antiquity, had no clear
divisions between science and philosophy!
With philosophy, science, and mathematics, -
all were rolled into one;
Thales became very renowned for his theorems!
One theorem stated that when you draw a triangle,
Inside a semi-circle, it always had a right angle!
He was the first to introduce the process of
deduction, -
Deriving mathematical statements from logical
observations!
He was an exceptional man of antiquity,
Much ahead of his time, - deserving publicity!

ANAXIMANDER (611-546 BC)

Had introduced the sun-dial into Greece.
His treaties ‘On Nature’ was the first
philosophical work in Greek prose, -
Which the people of Greece had ever known!
For him the ‘arche’ was the ‘Boundless or
the Infinite’;
A space filling animate mass, a kind of
mysterious mixture,
From which all things arose through
separation,
Whose true nature he never described, -
Specifically or otherwise, in all his
deliberations!

ANAXIMENES (588-524 BC)

A pupil of Anaximander - declared it was
air, mist or vapor,
Which held the key to all reality forever!
From air all things arose through rarefaction
and condensation;
Rarefied air into fire gets blown!
But when condensed it transformed into, -
Wind, cloud, water, earth and stone!
Man’s soul which is air, holds him together,
So does the air which envelopes the earth -
sustaining all matter!
Since all changes are produced by motion,
and motion being eternal;
Further clarification he felt was not needed,
and had nothing more to tell!
These Milesians with their innovative philosophy,
Tried to seek a single explanation for the universe,
and its multiplicity!

PYTHAGORAS OF SAMOS (580-500 BC)

Background:
Born in the Greek island of Samos in the Northen
Agean Sea, -
Off the coast of Asia Minor of modern day
Turkey;
It was around late 6th century BC!
He settled in Croton, a Doric Greek colony -
Of southern Italy, in 529 BC.
Lectured mostly in philosophy and mathematics.
Started a secret society called the Order of the
Pythagorians;
They followed rigid ascetic practices and were
strict vegetarians!
Pythagoras is said to have traveled extensively –
visiting foreign lands;
And in him the traditional knowledge of other
classical civilizations blend;
Wherein we can also find, a mystical trend!
He is said to have picked up geometry from
the Egyptians;
Arithmetic from the Phonesians, and astronomy
from the Chadeans!
His mystical trends and religious practices came
from the Orient!
These mystical believes include the belief in the
transmigration of the soul;
While his pupils carried on his noble traditions!
He had taught verbally, and is quoted by Plato
and Aristotle frequently!
And alluded to by Neoplatonist philosophers of
later history!

His Theory of Numbers and Musical Ratios:
His number theory was rather unique and exotic,
His mystical thoughts blending with mathematics!
Even numbers were said to be feminine,
And odd numbers stronger and masculine!
Since even plus odd always gives odd,
While two evens could never produce an odd!
But the numbers that impressed him the most,
Were found by him in the Musical Ratios -
as we can see,
As I had mentioned in my poem “Pythagoras and
his Music of the Spheres” already;
From which I now proceed to quote liberally!
Pythagoras is generally known for his famous
theorem of geometry,
Had a scientific bent of mind which did blend
with his philosophy!
He is the first Greek philosopher credited to
have heard, -
Cosmic music of the heavenly bodies in their
diurnal orbit round the sun!
The Book of Job speaks of a time when the stars
of the morning sang together while afloat!
And in his ‘The Merchant of Venice’, Act V,
Shakespeare wrote: -
“There is not the smallest orb that thou beholdest
But in their motion like an angle sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins,
Such harmony is in the mortal souls,
But whilst this worldly vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it! ”
Pythagoras while playing the Lyre one day,
Formulated his musical theory as historians say!
Just as distinct notes were produced by the varying
lengths of the Lyre strings,
So did the planets, revolving in there divinely fixed
frequency ratios;
And combined to form God’s philharmonic orchestra, -
His grand cosmic show!
Thus in his Theory of Music the mystic Pythagoras,
Related it all to mathematical ratio of numbers!
He tried to resolve through numbers the relation
of all things, -
As the underlying principle of all living beings!
Our modern day popular science of Numerology,
Owes much to Pythagoras and his mystical number
philosophy!
Since Numbers never lied and always told the truth,
They were considered Humanity’s ultimate good!

THE PROBLEM OF TRANSFORMATION
AND CHANGE!

So far in the opening verses we have seen,
The Ionian philosophers all delved in, -
The substantial nature of all things!
While the Pythagoreans dealt with quantitative
relations, -
Of order, harmony, and number unifications,
Blending their thoughts with mystical traditions!
The next philosophical issue with which the
Greek’s dealt, -
Was the problem of becoming, transformation,
and change!
A name which now features from the past, -
is Heraclitus of Ephesus!

Heraclitus of Ephesus (540-480 BC) :
Born in the Greek island of Ephesus in the Agean
Sea,
In an aristocrat family, he displayed contempt
for democracy!
For Thales, if my readers recall, everything was
made of ‘water’!
Anaximenes thought ‘air’ was the primitive element;
While Pythagoras had reduced everything to his
‘exotic numbers’!
For Heraclitus the primary world-stuff was ‘fire’!
Fire with its heat, light and combustion, was an
animate thing, -
The very soul of all creation and living being!
The ever living fire was never at rest,
And Pythagoras at times called it vapor or breath!
The soul was a mixture of fire and water,
Where fire was noble and water ignoble!
A soul that had most fire was deemed to be the
best,
Since a dry soul was always the wisest!
All things were in a state of flux he had said;
For you cannot step into the same water twice,
As water keeps flowing past your feet all the
while!
All things change to merging with time’s flow,
A process so gradual, one hardly perceives or
come to know!
“Nothing ever is - everything is becoming”,
Thus rose the philosophy of ‘being’ and ‘becoming’;
That distinguished Heraclitus from Parmenides!

The world continues to be in a state of flux,
Where strife (Nekos) and love (Philia) ,
Are the dividing and uniting forces in control,
To ensure the balance and unity of the whole!
Harmony is the union of opposites;
Just as the high and low musical notes combine,
To create music and melody in our life!
The principle of the universe is becoming and
change,
And with his dynamic metaphysics Heraclitus
tried to delve,
The ultimate reality behind all things as he had
felt!
Next we move on to Parmenides and his
philosophy of ‘being’;
Directly opposed to Heraclitus’ notion of
‘becoming’!

PARMENIDES (515 BC – 450 BC) :
Born in Elea a city south of present-day
Napels,
At the age of 65 years visited Athens,
And was interviewed by the youthful Socretes, -
as Plato says!
He was the founder of the Elactic School;
Declared all changes to be mere illusory, -
and not to be fooled!
In reality it was only changelessness, -
only a state of ‘being’;
Far removed from Heraclitus’ change and flux,
and ‘becoming’!
Since for ‘being’ to change and ‘become’, it
must have come, -
From a being, or non-being, or nothing!
To come from a ‘non-being’ or ‘nothing’ was
impossible!
But if from a ‘being’, then it has come from
itself;
And has always been an ‘identical being’, -
Parmenides strongly felt!
It was evident then, that from being only being
can come,
Hence there was only one eternal, indivisible
being, which was continuous!
Moreover, he declared ‘being’ and ‘thought’ were
one!
For what cannot be thought cannot be,
And what cannot be, that is ‘non-being’, -
cannot be thought!
‘Thought’ and ‘being’ for him were identical!
All change for Permanides being inconceivable, -
The world of sense he declared was an illusion!
Sense perception reveals a world of plurality
and change;
An illusory world of opinion and appearance!
Later, Bertrand Russell in his ‘History of Western
Philosophy’,
Suggested Parmanides was a victim of linguistic
Fallacy!
Yet he gives him credit for the ‘invention of
Metaphysics based on logic! ’


Both Melissus and Zeno as pupils of Permanides,
Continued his traditions in his Electic School of
Philosophy!
Zeno’s through his four paradox on movement
tried to demonstrate,
The indivisibility and unchanging reality without
change!
Zeno with his words of magic, is reputed to have
laid the foundation of Logic!

THE PLURALISTS: Empedocles & Anaxagoras
That single primary substance the ‘arche’ of
the Ionian philosophers,
Was challenged by Emphedocles (b.495BC)
and Anaxagoras(b.500BC) !
Emphedocles spoke of four qualitative elements
of Nature;
As Earth, Air, Fire and Water!
And also of two mythical beings - love and hate;
Which caused all elements to unite, or to
separate and break!
Therefore they were called ‘Pluralists’, -
Since for them only a single primary substance, -
did not exist.

This above position was refuted by Anaxagoras,
Who claimed these elements were not merely
four,
But they were countless in number and many
more!
It was neither love or hate but ‘nous’, -
a spontaneous active mind;
Was the source of all movements and life
of Mankind!

THE ATOMISTS:
Little is known about the Father of the
School of Atomist called Leucippus,
He was made famous by his pupil Democritus!
For him Parminedes’ non-being void did never
exist;
And Democritus spoke of atoms as indivisible
spatial entities;
Moving in a void or empty space, as the building
stones of reality, -
Which led to the formation of different objects
and its multiplicity!
Just like the comedies and tragedies of those
days, -
Were composed of the same letters of the alphabets, -
Democritus had said.
He was a rationalist and maintained, all genuine
way of knowledge began, -
When sense perception ends!
For sense perception was obscure knowledge;
And thoughts which transcends sense perception
and appearance,
Reaching the very atoms in our being,
Becomes the only genuine knowledge of human
beings!
But these philosophical thoughts only marked
a beginning!

THE SOPHISTS (481- 411BC) :
They were wise and skilful men of Greek history,
Lectured on art, rhetoric and oratory.
Also trained young men for political life,
Were like intellectual mercenaries of their time;
For all their teaching came at a price!
Beyond the reach of ordinary men,
Which made Socrates later criticize them!

There chief exponent was Protagoras,
Who had emphasized amongst all other things, -
‘Man as the measure of all things! ’
But those Sophist had failed to see, the forest
for the trees!
They failed to recognize ‘man’ from ‘men’,
While exaggerating the differences in human
judgments;
Ignoring the common areas of agreements!
Sophistry soon degenerated into selfish and
fallacious reasoning;
And was rejected by many thinking beings!

CONCLUDING PART-I:
With this my readers I come to the end of
Part-I of Ancient Greek Philosophy in Verse.
I had aimed at simplicity for easy understanding,
Without sacrificing authenticity;
Being a true lover of Philosophy!
The second part would cover the Age of Socrates,
The Cynics, and The Cyrenaic;
Stopping short of Plato and his ideal World of
Forms.
Thanks for reading!
Author: Raj Nandy
New Delhi
***ALL COPY RIGHTS RESERVED BY THE
AUTHOR***